Woolworth Building

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Woolworth Building
c.1913
Map
Record height
Preceded byMetropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
Surpassed by40 Wall Street
General information
Location233 Broadway
Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, United States
Construction started1910
Completed1913
OpeningApril 24, 1913
CostUS$13.5 million
OwnerWitkoff Group
Height
Roof241.4 m (792 ft)
Technical details
Floor count57
Lifts/elevators34
Design and construction
Architect(s)Cass Gilbert
Structural engineerGunvald Aus and Kort Berle
Woolworth Building
Woolworth Building is located in New York City
Woolworth Building
Area0.5 acres (0.2 ha)
NRHP reference No.66000554
Significant dates
Added to NRHP11/13/1966
Designated NYCLApril 12, 1983
References
[1][2][3]

The Woolworth Building, designed by architect Cass Gilbert in 1913, is one of the oldest skyscrapers in the United States. More than a century after the start of its construction, it remains, at 57 stories, one of the fifty-tallest buildings in the United States as well as one of the twenty-tallest buildings in New York City. Since 1966 it has been a National Historic Landmark,[4][5][6] and a New York City landmark since 1983.[7]

Architecture

The Woolworth Building was constructed in neo-Gothic style by architect Cass Gilbert, who was commissioned by Frank Woolworth in 1910 to design the tallest building in the world[7] as the Woolworth Company's new corporate headquarters on Broadway, between Park Place and Barclay Street in Lower Manhattan, opposite City Hall. Originally planned to be 625 feet (191 m) high, the building was eventually elevated to 792 feet (241 m).[citation needed] The construction cost was US$13.5 million and Woolworth paid all of it in cash. On completion, the Woolworth building overtook the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower as the world's-tallest building; it opened on April 24, 1913.

With a resemblance to European Gothic cathedrals, the structure was labeled the Cathedral of Commerce by the Reverend S. Parkes Cadman during the opening ceremony,[citation needed], although it was maligned by others due to its eclecticism.[8] It remained the tallest building in the world until the construction of 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, also in New York City, in 1930; an observation deck on the 57th floor attracted visitors until 1945.

The building's tower, flush with the main frontage on Broadway, is raised on a block base with a narrow interior court for light. The exterior decoration was cast in limestone-colored, glazed architectural terra-cotta panels. Strongly articulated piers, carried—without interrupting cornices—right to the pyramidal cap, give the building its upward thrust. The Gothic detailing concentrated at the highly visible top is massively scaled, able to be read from the street level several hundred feet below.[citation needed]

Engineers Gunvald Aus and Kort Berle designed the steel frame, supported on massive caissons that penetrate to the bedrock. The high-speed elevators were innovative, and the building's high office-to-elevator ratio made the structure profitable.[citation needed]

The ornate, cruciform lobby, is "one of the most spectacular of the early 20th century in New York City".[7] It is covered in Skyros veined marble,[8] has a vaulted ceiling, mosaics, a stained-glass skylight and bronze furnishings. On the balconies of the mezzanine are the murals Labor and Commerce overlooking sculpted plaster caricatures that include Gilbert with a model of the building, Aus taking a girder's measurments, and Woolworth counting nickels.[7][8] Woolworth's private office, revetted in marble in French Empire style, has been preserved.[citation needed]

The building's facade was restored between 1977 and 1981 by the Ehrenkrantz Group,[8] in which much of the terra-cotta was replaced with cast stone and a lot of the gothic ornaments were removed.[7]

Tenants

At the building's completion, the Woolworth Company occupied only one and a half floors of the building,[7] but, as the owner, profited from renting space out to others, including the Irving Trust bank and Columbia Records. Columbia Records had moved into the building in 1913 and housed a recording studio in it.[9] In 1917, Columbia made a recording of a dixieland band, the Original Dixieland Jass Band in this studio.[10][11]

Recent history

The building was owned by the Woolworth company for 85 years until 1998, when the Venator Group (formerly the F. W. Woolworth Company) sold it to the Witkoff Group for $155 million.[12] Until recently, that company kept a presence in the building through a Foot Locker store (Foot Locker is the successor to the Woolworth Company).

Prior to its 2001 destruction, the World Trade Center was often photographed in such a way that the Woolworth Building could be seen between 1 and 2 World Trade Center.[citation needed] After the September 11, 2001, attacks a few blocks away, the building was without electricity, water and telephone service for a few weeks and had broken windows and the top turret was damaged by falling rubble. Increased post-attack security restricted access to most of the ornate lobby, previously a tourist attraction.[13]

The structure has a long association with higher education, housing a number of Fordham University schools in the early 20th century. Today, the building houses, among other tenants, TTA Inc., Control Group Inc. and the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies' Center for Global Affairs.[citation needed]

In popular culture

  • On film, the building has been referenced several times. It is mentioned by name near the beginning of the 1957 12 Angry Men,[citation needed], and it is featured in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer, in which Billy asks his father (played by Dustin Hoffman) its name. The building is shown as the headquarters of Mode magazine in the 2006 television series, Ugly Betty. In the 2007 Disney film Enchanted, the building is the site of the film's grand climax; and in the opening scenes of the 2008 film Cloverfield, the building is depicted collapsing after an enormous monster critically damages it.[14]
  • In the 2007 novel Peak, the protagonist is arrested for climbing the building.

Gallery

  • Under construction
    Under construction
  • The building's top
    The building's top
  • Part of the lobby
    Part of the lobby

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ Woolworth Building at Emporis
  2. ^ "Woolworth Building". SkyscraperPage.
  3. ^ Woolworth Building at Structurae
  4. ^ "Woolworth Building". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 23, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  5. ^ Patricia Heintzelman and Cecil McKithan (January 6, 1978). "The Woolworth Building" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination. National Park Service.
  6. ^ "The Woolworth Building--Accompanying 3 photos, exterior, from 1975" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination. National Park Service. January 6, 1978. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c d e f New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009). Postal, Matthew A. (ed.). Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1., p. 25.
  8. ^ a b c d White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5., p. 67.
  9. ^ Hoffman, Frank, Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, New York & London : Routledge, 1993 & 2005, Volume 1. Cf. p. 212, article on "Columbia (Label)".
  10. ^ Cogan, Jim; Clark, William, Temples of sound : inside the great recording studios, San Francisco : Chronicle Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8118-3394-1. Cf. chapter on Columbia Studios.
  11. ^ "The Woolworth Building", NYC Architecture
  12. ^ recordonline.com - The Times Herald-Record, serving New York’s Hudson Valley and the Catskills[dead link]
  13. ^ Fendrich, Laurie (January 8, 2008). "American Architectural Wonder: Keep Out". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
  14. ^ Soll, Lindsay (October 17, 2008). "The Deep Dive: Made in NYC". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Woolworth Building.
Records
Preceded by Tallest building in the world
1913–1930 		Succeeded by
Tallest building in the United States
1913–1930
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